Support

dsgb57
on 4/10/12 6:10 am
 Hi.
I am having a sleeve gastrectomy 4/16/12.  I live in a very remote area in Wyoming.  I would greatly appreciate contact with anyone who has had the VSG.  I am so remote, I would like to develop a support group for me.
amyk_41812
on 5/19/12 3:42 am - GA
Hi, I actually had surgery two days after you did but if you are still looking for a pen pal and would maybe like to talk to somone who is going thru it at the same time as you then I would be happy to be that person.  I live in Ga, so not really near to you but I had the same surgery.  I am very new to message boards so please bear with me.  I am not sure how to find out if you replyed to this comment but I will figure it out so do worry.  I'd love to hear from you and if I dont then I wish you the best of luck with your weight loss journey.
dsgb57
on 5/20/12 10:33 am
Amy,
I presume.  thank you, thank you for writing.  Yes, I did have my surgery.  Thankfully I have not had any complications.  I am down 24 pounds since my surgery.  I am disgruntled however, due to the fact that I live so far away from my physician.  It is crazy but I never met my Doctor until right before they took me into the OR suite.  My hospitalization time was not that great and I felt like I took care of myself.  I have had a difficult time getting my healthcare provider & staff to return my phone calls or e-mails.  All but one that is.  I was told prior to surgery that I could do all consultiations by phone.  I actually had to pay $300.00 plus for post op education feeds.  I guess they will tell you what you want to hear prior to surgery. Again I am 5 weeks post op and have no idea what kind of exercise I can be doing now.  What activity level are you doing?  I am walking about 2 miles about 3 times a week. I e-mailed with an exercise therapist over 2 weeks ago.  She was suppose to send me an excerise band to work with.  I have not received it.  I e-mailed her over a week ago and ask if she was able to mail me the band.  She replied she did and did not know why I had not received it.  She stated she would mail me another one this week.  She also told me she would e-mail with answers to my other questions, when she returned from vacation this past week.  I have not heard from her.
Any advice on exercise you can give me, I would appreciate very much.  I am from Asheville, North Carolina so hearing from someone from Georgia, is great
Debra
amyk_41812
on 5/21/12 7:27 am - GA
Debra,
It's nice to  hear from you.  I am glad to hear that you came thru your sugery with little or no complications.  I was lucky in that area too.  My surgen said I did real well thru surgery and I was able to go home the next day.  I do live pretty close to my surgical team,  Well, i guess they would be more like a support team.  I did pimarily deal with them instead of the dr up until the surgery.  I think the thing to remember here is that he is a surgen and not a dr who see's patients in his office every day.  That being said, there is no excuse for you to not be able to get the answers that you need no matter how far away you live,.  I had been told at my two week visit to stay on the weight lifting restriction of 10lbs so I figured that ment that I couldn't return to the gym yet either.  Now I  had my surgery two days after you did and I lost like 15lbs the first two weeks and when I went back to the dr he said I was doing good but for the next two weeks I would loose little to no weight as my body needed time to adjust to the rapid weight loss.  so I've lost like one or two more pounnds and no more. I must say that its very discourageing especially hearing that you've lost like 10 more lbs than me.  Good for you though, you keep up the good work.  Sense I didn't exactly the answer to your question about exersise I went ahead and called my nurse and she called me back within a matter of minutes and said that usually after two weeks you can resume your physical activity.  Now given the fact that My dr told me to remain on a weight lifting limit and I am scheduled to see him this Wed, she said just wait till then and ask him. so once I've seen him I will be sure to message you and let you know what he says.  By the way, just so you know a little about me, I'm 37 yrs old this year and I've been 100% disabled sense I was 25.  I have fibromyalgia, with chronic pain and chronic fatigue, To top that all off I have manic aggressive bipolar and anxiioty attacks so that makes me crazy I suppose. I am medicated for the bipolar and anxioty problems to the bipolar basicly isn't an issure but I only take the rx for the anxioty attacks when they happen so there's no prevention on that issue.  I have been married to my third husband for 11 happy yrs and I believe he is the love of my life but due to the fibromyalgia I haven't been able to give him any babies and I would love to be able to do that for him more than anything.  I didn't really have any weight related health problem, yet and I thought that by going ahead and having the surgery now that I might be able to prevent some of that.. plus I thought that maybe by loosing the weight I could maybe come off some of the meds (I take alot) and thus maybe be able to have child before I get to be too old. lol.  I did have to pay out a ton of money too for the nutionist fees and each time I saw the surgen before the surgery he charged my insureance $250 or more.  then to have the surgery I had to pay $1200 that's my yearly out of pocket because I had met all my deductables...  also, I was scheduled to have the surgery the month before in March and had purchased the protein shakes at $60 per week and I had to be on them for two weeks and when we found out my insurance co was draggin their feet about okaying the surgery, I had to come off the shakes and then repurchase them the following month.  I have no Idea how much money I spent there and I don't know if I will get any of it back because most of my medical cost is paid up front. anyway. I'm going to let you go.  I was thinking sense we live in the same time zone and I have free unlimited long distance calling from my home phone that if you ever wanted to talk over the phone I would love that.  Ill leave that up to you and you just let me know if you want to get my number. ok? I AM so happy to hear from you and look forward to hearing from you in the future. Hang in there, Sister, It's gotta get better
Hugs, amy k
amyk_41812
on 5/23/12 10:57 pm - GA
Debra. I went back to see my surgen yesterday for a follow up visit and they said I could be doing walking but not over do it.  THey want to ease us back into activity like that.  They said at 6 weeks out from surgery date that you could return to the gym but still take it easy, no lifting heavy weight  or anything over stressful to your body.  Hope this helps you out and I hope you are getting these messages, like I said, Im new to message boards. lol  Have a wonderful day of weight loss!
dsgb57
on 5/28/12 7:34 am
Amy
I did get your prior message.  However, I have been covering for a girl at work, then I went on vacation this last 5 days over Memorial Day.  I went up into Yellowstone National Park.  There was a lot of wildlife out.  I am orginally from North Carolina but currently I live in Wyoming.  A big difference in the areas.
How are you doing with your weight loss?  Having you starting losing weight?  I really appreciate you relaying the exercise infomation to me.  I still can not get a straight answer from my exercise therapist.  I have written her 3 times, asking specific questions about what I can and can't do.  She has answered each e-mail with a one sentence reply.  Very, very frustrating.  She tells me that they don't recommend their patients to lift more than 8 pounds until 4 months post op.  Where I live it is still very cold.  We just had an 8 inch snowfall.  I get out on days when I can and walk.  I have a stationary bike I would like to ride on our cold days.  I have some free weights I would like to start using with my arms.  Here, I can not get an answer from the therapist if it would be could to do either of these exercises.  I had such a painful recovery time, I do not want to do anything to injure myself and have to go through a surgery again.  I am trying to be careful but I would really like to add some diversity to my routine.  I guess the walking is helping though and I can not complain.  I weighed a week ago and had lost 28.2 pounds.  I can really tell a huge difference in my breathing.  It is a lot less labored.  I hate to admit it but showering and simply getting in the bed, was the most difficult things for me to do.  I would be overcome with a sense of doom each time I did these two things.  I hated feeling that way.  What was the everyday thing that was hardest for you to do?  HOw are your incisions?  My are still open but scabbed over.  So frustrating with this also.  It has been 6 weeks today and I still have open wounds.  Amy, I am 5 feet, 8 inches tall and the day of surgery I weighed 271 pounds.  I would really like to hear more or your surgical story and how your recovery has been.
Hope you had a great Memorial Day vacation
Debra

dsgb57
on 6/25/12 2:27 pm
 Amy,
Are you okay?  i sent you another e-mail on 5-24 in response to the e-mail you sent me.  I have not heard anything from you.  I am concerned.  I hope that all is well with you.  Please let me know how you are?
Debra
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